QATAR Law and Practice Contributed by: Hani Al Naddaf and Maysa Sleiman, Al Tamimi & Company
subject to further challenge. This framework ensures that both procedural and substantive objections to enforcement can be raised and adjudicated within the Qatari legal system. 4. Arbitral Awards 4.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Qatar recognises arbitral awards as enforceable instruments, as the JEL lists arbitral awards among the primary types of enforceable titles (Article 6). How - ever, the law does not provide an extensive or detailed framework governing the enforcement process, nor does it make a distinction between the enforcement of domestic and foreign arbitral awards. Instead, the JEL refers to Law No 2 of 2017 Promulgating the Law of Arbitration in Civil and Commercial Matters (“Arbi - tration Law”), mainly for the grounds of refusal for the enforcement of these awards, as well as the grounds for annulment. While the legal provisions remain limited in details, in practice Qatari courts have adopted a more arbitra - tion-friendly approach in recent years, and have con - sistently enforced arbitral awards, whether issued in Qatar or abroad, so long as the relevant conditions are satisfied. In practice, the procedural requirements, particularly the list of documents needed to submit an application, are established internally by the judiciary or enforcement authorities. 4.2 Variations in Approach to Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Qatar enforces all arbitral awards, whether domestic or foreign, final or interim, institutional or ad-hoc – under a unified legislative framework. In any types of these awards, the Enforcement Court does not review the merits but checks for jurisdiction, due process, public policy and arbitrability before accepting the application to enforce the award. 4.3 Categories of Arbitral Awards Not Enforced Qatari law recognises arbitral awards as enforceable instruments, but certain categories of awards will not be enforced either by operation of law or as a result
of procedural limitations. The primary bases for non- enforcement are as follows. Awards on Non-Arbitrable Matters Under Qatari law, certain subject matters are deemed non-arbitrable, and arbitral awards issued in relation to these matters will not be enforced. These subject matters include: • labour disputes; • personal status matters, including marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance; • rental disputes; • criminal matters, which remain within the exclusive jurisdiction of the state; and • public policy and sovereign matters, such as those involving taxation, customs, immigration or acts of the state in its sovereign capacity. These matters are considered non-arbitrable as they are either inherently linked to public order or fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of national courts. 4.4 Process of Enforcing Arbitral Awards The process for enforcing an arbitral award in Qatar involves the following steps. • First, the enforcement can only be sought after the expiry of the time limit for filing an annulment action, as prescribed by the Arbitration Law (one month from the date of notification of the award, unless the parties have agreed in writing to extend this deadline). • The party seeking enforcement must submit an application to the Enforcement Court. The applica - tion should include: (a) the original arbitral award if the language is Arabic, or a certified translation of the award into Arabic if the original is in another language; (b) a copy of the arbitration agreement or the con - tract that includes the arbitration agreement; (c) commercial registrar extracts of parties; and (d) in cases involving a foreign arbitral award, the court requests a certificate from the arbitral in - stitution that issued the award, confirming that the award is final and has been duly notified to both parties.
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